ANIMALS. Ben Affleck as Mark in Animals. Cr. Warrick Page/Netflix
“That freaked me out” was Ben Affleck’s reaction to Spike Lee’s Highest 2 Lowest. It wasn’t just because Lee crafted a damn good remake of an Akira Kurosawa classic—it was because the film was virtually identical to Affleck’s newest movie, Animals. Both are kidnapping dramas about rich fathers who receive the worst call imaginable. But they also share the exact same twist, a coincidence that freaked Affleck out so much he actually halted production on his own thriller just two weeks before cameras rolled.
There’s a twist – an identical twist – so Lee’s film freaked out Affleck so much that he actually paused production on his political thriller. Affleck also stars in the film, playing an independent mayoral candidate in Los Angeles. The actor, both in front of and behind the camera, gets to ham it up quite a bit as a sleazy independent politician.
“We get very close to shooting,” Affleck told EW, “and then somebody said to me, ‘Hey, you know, there’s this other movie that Spike [Lee] and Denzel [Washington] are doing that’s about a kidnapping.’”
Affleck called off production and informed his producing
Affleck called off production and informed his producing partners at Artists Equity – including Matt Damon, who was meant to star – that they wouldn’t move forward with Animals. “We were two weeks from shooting, and I was like, ‘We’re not doing it,’” he said. “It’s hard enough to make a good movie. You don’t need those kinds of headwinds.”
Affleck half-jokes that he’s been in this spot before: the epic box-office showdown between two doomsday movies, Armageddon and Deep Impact.
Comparisons would’ve been made between Animals and Highest 2 Lowest, no doubt questioning which movie crafted more drama and thrills. Critics and film nerds might’ve debated it, but would general audiences have cared much? Maybe not, since most viewers caught the movies on streaming and didn’t have to decide which kidnapping drama to see at the theater.
Highest 2 Lowest was critically acclaimed and reached
Highest 2 Lowest was critically acclaimed and reached a decent theater count from Apple. Affleck’s new film, meanwhile, received a far more limited theatrical release alongside its Netflix debut. Animals has fared less well with critics, though, garnering mixed to negative. It’s a more commercial effort from the Argo and The Town director, who’s a reliable entertainer, not to mention award winner, behind the camera. There’s something amiss, though, in his latest work.
Both Affleck and Lee tell similar stories through very different lenses. Surprisingly, Affleck hasn’t even seen Kurosawa’s original classic. Most of that original film – which is about as pure as cinema gets – takes place inside a house, focusing on negotiations between the victims and the kidnappers.
After delaying Animals and Damon going off to star in The Odyssey, Affleck couldn’t stop thinking about making his Los Angeles-set thriller, though.
I was like, God, this is really sticking
“I was like, God, this is really sticking with me, and I actually wanna do this,” he decided. The famed Boston actor realized he’d lived in LA longer than his hometown. It was time to give the city its due in one of his pictures.
The Twist
Warning: The following section contains spoilers. Proceed with caution!
The couple at the center of the film, played by Affleck and Kerry Washington, quickly realize their son wasn’t kidnapped after all. He returns home safely on Halloween night. The kidnappers screwed up and abducted the wrong kid, Hector (Jacob Astrada), who’s the child of the housekeeper’s boyfriend, Ramon (Luis Gerardo Méndez).
The dilemma becomes a test for the mayoral candidate. Will he pay up? How much does this politician truly care about the people of Los Angeles?
It’s identical to the twist in High
It’s identical to the twist in High and Low and Spike Lee’s remake, the latter of which handles it with far more cinematic care. Affleck’s usual sharp eye for tension, on full display in Gone Baby Gone and The Town, isn’t quite in focus in Animals. There’s not enough tension, despite all the fast-paced drama and kidnapping switcheroo.
One effect shot towards the end, perhaps crafted with artificial intelligence, in a key moment of suspense, basically encapsulates the underwhelming experience of Animals. It looks and feelsartificial. It’s puzzling work from a director as reliable as Affleck, who understandably got cold feet after seeing Highest 2 Lowest.
